


We Will Rule Together or Not at All

by Nillegible



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Royalty AU, Shaw Being Evil, Strange Accession Laws
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 23:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4157649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nillegible/pseuds/Nillegible
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When King Jacob and Queen Edie are lost at sea, crown prince Erik Lehnsherr loses his throne to Brian Xavier. Yet with war threatening, nobles revolting, and growing whispers that the King and Queen had been killed by someone close to them, Genosha is in a tenuous position. The entire course of the kingdom's future rests on the young, disillusioned ex-prince, Erik, who may or may not choose to stand beside his Charles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Will Rule Together or Not at All

When Queen Edie and King Jakob died, Prince Erik would have gone mad. Mad with grief, and hatred, and anger, the kind of deep seated anger that would have burnt him away from inside. It very nearly did, but for the friendship of the House of Xavier. As the last and only member of the house of Lehnsherr, Erik would no longer be in the running for king, and his father's crown would lapse to Lord Brian Xavier. Erik was grateful, he doubted he was fit to rule a country when he could barely see to the funeral preparations.

The short weeks after that were a blurry haze of hate and regret and grief, through which Erik's only anchor was Charles, his pained baby blue eyes and his soft voice guiding Erik every day. Relentlessly pushing him to eat, sleep, dress, and meet those of his nobles that Brian did not yet have the right to deflect. There were days when he just couldn't get out of bed, when Charles would stroke his fingers through his hair, lending him wordless comfort and strength (literally, with his telepathic powers). To use telepathy on the Crown Prince (even when he'd be losing that crown in two month's time) was treason. Charles did it anyway, and Erik could only love him for it, even if he wasn't sure he had a heart left anymore.

At the funeral procession, the city wept as two empty royal coffins (because the King and Queen had been lost at sea), were carefully carried through the city streets in a carriage flanked by the King's Guard, and the Navy ("but it's their fault!" a stricken Erik had cried when Charles had explained the procession arrangement), followed by the Genoshan infantry. Erik would later never remember if his memories of the funeral were his own, or Charles', or someone else's that Charles had picked up. He didn't really care either.

By the time Brian's coronation rolled around, Erik was still only a shadow of himself, but at least he was a stable shadow. And most of the anger and hate he'd contained had bled out of him for the time being.

0o0o0o0o0o0

A week after the funeral, Erik and Charles sat together in Erik's room, reading. Or at least, Erik was pretending to, dull eyes staring listlessly at each page until he stirred enough to flip the page. Charles knew that he wasn't reading. He could feel it; Erik's thoughts growing fainter and fainter, weary of the world at large. After weeks of holding his Prince together, Charles could hardly bear it anymore.

 _'No Erik, no you're not leaving me too'_ but he doubted Erik could hear him. For the first time ever Charles hated how much of himself Erik gave to those he loved. The death of the king and queen shouldn't have destroyed their son, and Charles _won't let it_ because he needed Erik. Erik was barely recognizable though (at least to Charles), all of that beautiful, vibrant chaotic mind shut away, lost in the confusion and regret Erik felt. He felt so...distant, and Charles couldn't hold it together anymore.

Like an earthen dam crumbling before a spring flood, the feelings and memories he'd bottled away (Edie's smile, her soft voice, warm hugs and brilliant smile, Jakob's laughter, his stern face when they pulled some mischief, and the times he'd let Charles in on his preciously few moments with Erik, the warm love both king and queen had felt towards him, loving parents who had been blessed with only one child, with enough heart to love all of Genosha), the shock at their loss, the grief he picked up from everyone in the capital, far too exhausted to shield himself completely, and he broke. He hadn't expected the intensity of it, and it was like being swept away. Before the tears in his eyes could fall, he'd fallen unconscious.

Charles woke in Erik's bed (nearly as familiar as his own- Erik had had the same bed all his life, even when they had been young enough to play chess on the prince's bed until they had fallen asleep right there). Erik was there as well. And for the first time since their death, Erik's mind was close to resembling his own. He was not over his grief, but he was no longer on the verge of madness. Charles would have cried, but his eyes were heavy, and they burned. And then Erik was there, taking Charles' hand, letting his mind softly envelop his.

"You're okay, you're safe." said Erik, tentatively.

Charles felt the first genuine warmth he had felt since that terrifying moment that they'd heard that the Natalya (Edie's ship) had sent out a distress sequence then vanished into radio-silence.

"We're going to be okay."

0o0o0o0o0

Erik had panicked when he'd been hit with the force of Charles' grief, it had startled him, and the violent realization that he wasn't the only one grieving, had forced him to get over himself. Charles had collapsed, but then he started crying; tears leaking out of his closed eyes, making unintelligible pained noises. His grief was almost wordless, but what little he could understand was heartbreaking. It took Erik a half-hour to calm Charles (think pleasant thoughts, cut off every painful tangent his mind chose to run on. It was something Erik hadn't done for Charles since Sharon died and Charles had nightmares about it) even with the help of Doctor McCoy, (who had only strung Charles up to a saline drip, and asked "When was the last time he ate?") after Erik refused to allow him to use Charles' telepathy diminishing medication.

When Charles finally quieted, the last broken thoughts banished, and the tears have ceased, Erik begins to cry. He has cried too often in the past few weeks, but for some reason this time it is like something dark and broken inside him is melting away. His parents had loved him, but they would have grounded him for a year for hurting Charles. For the first time since their loss, Erik's tears are untainted by anger.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Unbetaed, so feel free to offer fix-its or advice, that would be great.


End file.
